Final Blog

WOW. This semester has come to an end. I can't believe after all the long hours, stress, and hard work that it is all over now. When I began this semester, I was so nervous and apprehensive about taking on this project. It seemed so daunting to be a part of a research project. I had never been a part of anything like that and working with such well known professionals and researchers was exciting, yet daunting. Dr. Karen Meneses is so well respected in the research world.. talk about intimidating! I could never have imagined that such a great experience was awaiting me! I have been able to meet and learn from so many people, including so many brave breast cancer survivors. Being able to contribute, even in a small way, to improving the quality of life for these incredible women means so much. I have enjoyed every moment of my part in the Young Breast Cancer Survivorship Network and am so thankful for the amazing opportunity.

SPSS

Hello all. Just wanted to pass along this bit of info in case you didn't know. UAB has a license that makes SPSS free to download for all students and staff. If any of you are interested in research and would like to play around with this software, you can go to this link and it will give the directions on how to. This software is heavily used in research (particularly nursing research) and helps in analyzing data. It can use this data and then turn it into charts, data, reports, etc to make the data easier to read and assess. This is a free download and would be great for those interested in research to download and start working with!


http://www.uab.edu/it/home/about-uab-it/announcements/archived-announcements/item/309-spss

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to let everyone know how awesome your presentations were. Everyone did such a great job! I'm so glad to know that all of us have had such a great experience with our projects. As I mentioned in my presentation, Mrs. Camata would like Honors students to assist with child care during the young breast cancer survivorship network workshop. If you would be unable to help out on that day but still want to contribute, you can donate drinks and snacks for the participants. For any questions about how you can helo or if you know you would like to, email Mrs. Silvia Camata at sgcamata@uab.edu.

Thanks Everyone In Advance!

YBCSN Conference

The Young Breast Cancer Survivorship Network will be having a conference on February 16th. This conference has taken several months to plan and is still being worked on. Dr. Karen Meneses and Mrs. Silvia Camata need volunteers to help with this big event and they would love nursing students to be that help! I know we don't know our schedule for next semester yet, but if you are interested please let me or Mrs. Silvia know. This conference will truly be a help for the survivors (and would look really great on resumes as volunteer work!) So think it over..

Task		Time
Set-up	Friday 02/19- Set-up	1-3pm
	Friday 02/19- Set-up	1-3pm
	Friday 02/19- Set-up	1-3pm
	Sat Early Set-up	7-8am
	Sat Early Set-up	7-8am
	Sat Early Set-up	7-8am
Registration/Greeting	Registration	8-10am
	Registration	8-9:30am
	Registration	8-9:30am
	Greeting/Hallway	8-11am
	Greeting/Hallway	8-11am
	Greeting/Hallway	8-11am
	Greeting/Hallway	8-11am
	Greeting/Hallway	8-11am
Food	Coffee/Breakfast/Break snacks	7:30-10am
	Coffee/Breakfast/Break snacks	7:30-10am
	Coffee/Breakfast/Break snacks	7:30-10am
	Coffee/Breakfast/Break snacks	7:30-10am
	Coffee/Breakfast/Break snacks	7:30-10am
	Lunch	10-12noon
	Lunch	10-12noon
	Lunch	10-12noon
	Lunch	10-12noon
	Lunch	10-12noon
Childcare	Art Workshop - CNR 1010K	8:15-11am
	Art Workshop - CNR 1010K	8:15-11am
	CNR 1010H- 0-2 years	8:15-11am
	CNR 1010H- 0-2 years	8:15-11am
	CNR 1010H- 0-2 years	8:15-11am
	CNR 1010H- 0-2 years	8:15-11am
	CNR 1010J- 2-4 years	8:15-11am
	CNR 1010J- 2-4 years	8:15-11am
	CNR 1010J- 2-4 years	8:15-11am
	CNR 1010J- 2-4 years	8:15-11am
	CNR door/hall	8:15-11am
	CNR door/hall	8:15-11am
Audio	CNR 1020 Auditorium	8:30-12:30pm
	CNR 10 Men's room	8:30-11am
Clean up	Volunteer	12:30-1:30pm
	Volunteer	12:30-1:30pm
	Volunteer	12:30-1:30pm
	Volunteer Mrs. Silvia Camata- sgcamata@uab.edu Dr. Karen Meneses- menesesk@uab.edu	12:30-1:30pm

Giving Thanks

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving break! I just wanted to take a moment and reflect on how this semester has gone. I am so thankful for how much this semester has taught me. I have not only been able to learn more about research, but also help in improving the lives of breast cancer survivors. Through meeting in focus groups and support groups, I have been able to learn more about the issues that these women face and ways to help. This project is in its very early phases, and I am excited to continue with it. I am also thankful for everyone in this program! I have learned so much from you all and the amazing projects you have been working on. It has been a really great experience to be a part of such a great group. (And might I also add I'm very thankful for having a little over 2 weeks to go in this semester.) SO everyone keep up the great work and we will all finish this semester out strong!

Chemo Brain Seminar

I apologize for my absence in class today. I was attending a seminar by Dr. Karen Meneses at the American Cancer Society. This seminar was focused on an issue that was discussed frequently in our focus group sessions; "chemo brain" and cognitive changes that cancer survivors experience. The crowd included survivors, various oncology health care professionals, and nursing students from Jeff State. Although there is not a lot of data out there related specifically to cognitive changes due to chemotherapy, Dr. Meneses and Silvia Camata were able to provide information and give useful tips to help with this problem. Some of these tips included: keeping post-it notes available to jot down reminders, journal to keep track of the progression of change, eat healthy foods with lots of vitamins (particularly B6), exercise regularly, and keep a planner with you to keep track of events. The survivors present were able to voice specific concerns that related to them, and also provide additional tips to one another about how they deal with this problem. I really enjoyed being able to participate in this, and getting to yet again assist with helping survivors in the issues that they face.

SSPS

Today I got to do some big time nursing research.. working with SSPS! Mrs. Silvia and I began by compiling all of the data from the three focus groups that were conducted. Mrs. Silvia started on SSPS by formatting the labels and getting it set up for the information. While Mrs. Silvia was working on SSPS, I started on Excel. At each focus group, the participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire. This question had several questions, many focusing on issues these survivors faced including: lymphedema, breast reconstruction surgery, fertility, sexuality, bone health, and cognitive changes. We used excel and SPSS to see which of the issues were most prevalent for the women. This will be used when creating the website, and also the planning the conference for February.We will continue to compile the information next week, and will hopefully be finished soon. It is so exciting to be getting to do research like a real nurse scientist. Like I said in class.. I'm so excited in the nerdiest way!

YBCSN Update

This week, I will be finishing up the "tip sheets" to go onto the Young Breast Cancer Survivor's Network website! The website is still in the process of being set up. Mrs. Silvia Camata and I used the information from the three focus groups to develop sheets we thought would be important to the survivors. Some of the most talked about issues included: mental fatigue, chemo brain, getting active, losing weight brought on by treatment, work and finance, breast reconstruction surgery. These issues were the most common and also the most frustrating for the survivors. The website will have these tip sheets, and also information about resources in the Birmingham area. Since this project was locally funded (by the Women Breast Health’s Fund of the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham), it is important that we provide information that will benefit the residences living here. One of these resources is Oasis, which is a counseling service offered to women and their children. The YBCSN is providing free counseling sessions for survivors and children. To check out all the goodness we have going on, here is our link on the UAB Center for Nursing Research page: http://www.uab.edu/nursing/research/1123-the-young-breast-cancer-survivorship-network-project-

  

LiveStrong

As I'm sure everyone has heard, this week has not been the greatest for Lance Armstrong. He has been stripped of all his Tour de France medals and his endorsement deals have been pulled. Although he has remained unwavering with his innocence, it seems that all the evidence has proved otherwise. One thing that I have to admire him for though is the foundation he started, LiveStrong. While working on my "tip sheets" for the Young Breast Cancer Survivor's Network, I have used that website several times. It provides a vast array of resources regarding diet, health, fitness, lifestyle and a community tab to connect others. It has videos, blog posts, success stories, and links for living a healthy life. It also has resources and one-on-one support for those diagnosed with cancer and survivors. Even though its founder has tarnished his own name, I felt it was important to share how great this website is. I know there are some other students working with cancer research, and I would encourage you to look at all these websites have to offer.

Check it out for yourself: http://www.livestrong.org/

And it’s official partner: http://www.livestrong.com

Breast Cancer Awareness History

It's October which is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, as we all know, but I thought I would give a little history as to how it came about. It may be because I'm dating a graduate history major, (which is making me become quite the nerd) but I have become increasingly interested in how things got their start, and how they came about. National Breast Cancer Awareness Month started in 1985, due to the partnership of the American Cancer Society and the pharmaceutical division of what is now AstraZeneca. Its purpose was to increase the awareness of mammograms, and how essential it is for women to get them annually. I have found increasing numbers of websites that state October has now become a platform for companies to make money and profit from how popular this has become. Whether or not this is true, it is still important for getting the word out. There will always be people out to benefit from the hardships of others, but that doesn't defeat the overall good this month provides. (I know, I got on a bit of a soap box there.) October is being recognized world wide with it seeming like the whole world goes "pink." I have posted some pictures below that I thought were neat displaying this phenomenon.

  
           Whte House                                                       Tokyo Tower

                              London